In 2013 more than 150 of LA’s leading graffiti artists responded to a
16th century manuscript from the vaults of the Getty Research Institute
called a liber amicorum (book of friends) by contributing works on
paper to be bound into a single book and created the Getty Graffiti
Black Book. Street artists have used black books for decades to create a
visual memory of drafts and to serve as a vehicle for the exchange of
ideas. The extraordinary competition that occasionally arises among such
artists can also lead to respect as rivals invite each other to “hit”
their black books with original works. The contributing artists decided
to give the Getty Black Book the title, LA Liber Amicorum, to capture
the spirit of its transformation of rival ‘writing-crews’ into a Los
Angeles Book of Friends.

Now, ESMoA and the Getty Research Institute have invited Getty Black
Book artists Axis, Cre8, Defer, Eyeone, Fishe, and Miner to co-curate
those crews of creative friends from the LA graffiti art community and
turn the art laboratory of ESMoA into an open black book. Graffiti and
tattoo artists will transform the space into a cathedral of urban art
for the first presentation of the LA Liber Amicorum to the public with
SCRATCH.Graffito is old Italian slang for “a little mark,” and graphein in
Ancient Greek meant “scratch, draw, paint” long before it meant “to
write.” Graffiti artists craft letterforms, draft perspective, and merge
line, color, and form with the same techniques employed by Renaissance
masters like Albrecht Dürer.

The first edition of Dürer’s landmark book on perspective was just
one of the many rare books that the artists viewed at the Getty Research
Institute in the process of creating the LA Liber Amicorum. Some of
those jewels in the history of calligraphy, engraving, and emblematic
symbolism from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, as well as
sixteenth-century painted friendship-books that inspired the project,
will be installed in the space surrounded by the graffiti-writers’ art.
iPads will be mounted, so visitors can ‘e-flip’ through the books and
not only share the artists’ own creative experience and response to the
impact of viewing these rare books, but also continually co-curate the
space by choosing which page-openings will be in dialogue with the art
on the walls and floor.

Rare manuscripts on view

Getty Research Institute curator of rare books, David Brafman

The SCRATCH art experience is curated by GRI Rare Books Curator, David Brafman.

"The viewer can see the inspiration of these rare books on form, shape,
and lettering, and see these street artists are part of a long tradition
of writing and creativity."